Inside Ola Electric’s showdown with registration agencies
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Last month, buyers eagerly awaiting their Ola Electric scooters began noticing an unexpected delay. Instead of the usual one-week turnaround, deliveries stretched to nearly a month.
Store managers had few answers, and complaints started piling up on social media. At the heart of the disruption was a standoff between Ola Electric and its registration agencies over fees. The dispute stalled scooter deliveries, left customers frustrated, and wiped out nearly ₹3,000 crore in investor wealth.
The fallout has also drawn government scrutiny. Read this | Ola Electric’s scooter deliveries hit as it renegotiates contracts with vehicle registration agencies to cut costs The controversy has already claimed a top executive—General Legal Counsel Rohit Kumar—who left the company amid tensions over how the situation was handled, according to two industry executives. This marks one of the biggest challenges for Ola Electric Mobility Ltd since its stock market debut in August 2024.
Mint pieces together the story of the entire dispute with the registration agencies after speaking to seven executives aware of the developments. The trouble started with a dispute between Ola Electric and two of India's largest vehicle registration agencies—Rosmerta Digital Services Ltd and Shimnit India Pvt. Ltd.
The agencies had been working with Ola since December 2021, processing vehicle registrations by entering customer details into the government’s database and printing number plates. For nearly two years, the arrangement worked smoothly. But by mid-2024, Ola Electric’s sales started slipping.
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